made the decision not to do the group ride this morning. commute was cold enough - my garmin read 5.2 for a while (and mine reads higher than a few of the other guys). It's colder out where the ride is, so 0 or 1 degree I'd say it would have been out there.

DavidS wrote:Tailwind, you certainly are right about the wind, it has been relentless all August. With a Northerly I get assistance for most of the trip home, going in is another story.

And it looks like the northerly is going to hang around for a bit still - all of next week at least. I would prefer the headwind on the way in because it's a net altitude loss of about 160m into the CBD for me. Riding home uphill and into a headwind can be painful...

Rode back via St Georges Rd up through Reservoir and on to Epping, then cut across to South Morang via the Epping Trail. Those traffic lights on St Georges are seriously annoying..a reminder why I usually avoid that route.Rain this morning @4am, decided on the shorter route in along Plenty Rd/High St/Heidelberg Rd. The rain eventually petered out and I was dry by the time I arrived in the CBD.

My local maggie is now much more determined than it was a week ago (guess the hormones are really kicking in). They're so cute. Will try feeding it tomorrow. If that doesn't work then will try wearing a wig over my helmet like in that youtube video. A car passing me while I was fending off the maggie double beeped me, just two very quick toots. I'm not sure what that meant, I didn't read it as aggressive. Maybe "I'm passing, don't swerve in front of me while waving your arms around at the maggie"?. Or "look out there is a magpie attached to your helmet"?

Almost got doored later though. Fortunately I was riding wide - out of the door half open zone - but not quite wide enough to stay out of the door fully open zone. It was wide enough to stop the car right behind me from overtaking at that moment so I had room to swerve around the door while yelling "i hope you checked" (he didn't) at the driver and making him jump out of his skin. If I'd caught the door the following car would have driven over me...

Multi-hop commute back via my brother's place on Friday afternoon. Still windy, but not too bad. Was pretty happy to reach the end of a fairly trying week.Cruisy ride into the Melbourne CBD this morning, legs seem mostly recovered, hooray.

I saw a fellow commuter go down pretty hard this morning at the bottom of Victoria Rd in Sydney. I was approx 80 metres behind when I saw him get a bit close to another cyclist at the off ramp onto the bike path. He hit the brakes and went over the bars and knocked himself out. The bad news for him (in terms of any useful assistance) was that I was the first person on the scene. He was still out for the count when I got there and only started to come around after I got the bike off the top of him. He was pretty groggy for about 10 - 15 minutes until the Paramedics arrived (someone more useful than I turned up to assist).

On the upside it was good to see the number of people who stopped and asked if they could assist and/or enquired as to his state.

When I left, the Paramedics had him well in hand.

To the helmet haters, that was an accident that was best had wearing one and based on the state of his hands probably best to wear gloves!

goneriding wrote:I saw a fellow commuter go down pretty hard this morning at the bottom of Victoria Rd in Sydney. I was approx 80 metres behind when I saw him get a bit close to another cyclist at the off ramp onto the bike path. He hit the brakes and went over the bars and knocked himself out. The bad news for him (in terms of any useful assistance) was that I was the first person on the scene. He was still out for the count when I got there and only started to come around after I got the bike off the top of him. He was pretty groggy for about 10 - 15 minutes until the Paramedics arrived (someone more useful than I turned up to assist).

On the upside it was good to see the number of people who stopped and asked if they could assist and/or enquired as to his state.

When I left, the Paramedics had him well in hand.

To the helmet haters, that was an accident that was best had wearing one and based on the state of his hands probably best to wear gloves!

goneriding wrote:I saw a fellow commuter go down pretty hard this morning at the bottom of Victoria Rd in Sydney. I was approx 80 metres behind when I saw him get a bit close to another cyclist at the off ramp onto the bike path. He hit the brakes and went over the bars and knocked himself out. The bad news for him (in terms of any useful assistance) was that I was the first person on the scene. He was still out for the count when I got there and only started to come around after I got the bike off the top of him. He was pretty groggy for about 10 - 15 minutes until the Paramedics arrived (someone more useful than I turned up to assist).

On the upside it was good to see the number of people who stopped and asked if they could assist and/or enquired as to his state.

When I left, the Paramedics had him well in hand.

To the helmet haters, that was an accident that was best had wearing one and based on the state of his hands probably best to wear gloves!

Heal fast Joe!

I was one of the people who stopped....

Karma wasn't with me though because coming the opposite way last night I got to the 90 degree turn (just after the place where the accident occurred in the morning) and had someone drift across into me (I could see they were eyeing the right turn just after the corner). They were just over the white line and heading further onto the "wrong" side of the shared path. As I was turning I was leaning slightly towards him which didn't help.

Had nowhere to go, hit him with my right shoulder and managed to keep the bike upright. Absorbed the hit and unclipped while heading toward the fence on the left. Stopped with my hand resting on the fence to hold me up.

I was pretty annoyed that he was drifting across at the blind part of the corner just because he wanted to turn right - and I snapped at him when he asked if I was OK. Think I said something like "make sure you stay left even if you are going to turn right mate". Lucky I was only going around 15km/hr. Lady behind me (I had rolled past her on the downhill) asked if I was OK. Thankfully everyone was OK. And even better my "good" bike was untouched.....

I really hate that corner, still remember coming off my bike in the first week of riding through there when the front wheel touched the (slightly wet) painted white line.

Well had last friday and yesterday off from commuting...still rode but they were "sports" rides with other workmates

Today was back to the grind of commuting and I dont know if it was the four days off or the shits and giggles rides but I was so much quicker this morning than I have been in a long time, and I didnt feel like I was even trying that hard.

we had a crash on the corso this morning. pace line. van overtook us, then put it's indicator on and stopped. first 2 guys got around the van - 1 left and 1 right (eeek!). I hit it sideways - was able to wipe off a bit of speed and only have 1 scratch. 1 guys bike is a right-off - snapped at the headset clean in two. the third guy we had to call the ambo for but was ok.

jasonc wrote:we had a crash on the corso this morning. pace line. van overtook us, then put it's indicator on and stopped. first 2 guys got around the van - 1 left and 1 right (eeek!). I hit it sideways - was able to wipe off a bit of speed and only have 1 scratch. 1 guys bike is a right-off - snapped at the headset clean in two. the third guy we had to call the ambo for but was ok.

so we ran into the back of him. is it our fault?

if he overtook you then merged into your path and stopped he is a/f as you have right of way if you're continuing in the same lane.

might be hard to prove though as he may claim he was established in the lane when he stopped/braked.

I tried feeding my rabid magpie this morning. After the first 2 swoops I stopped off the road. He/She sat on the ground 5 meters away and watched me put out some nice mince meat (from a lasagne) and looked a bit interested.

And then she swooped when I turned my back Chased me further down the road after that

Tomorrow I'll take one for the team and go through and see what happens. After that, I'll try a wig

Hope your group ride mates who had damage and injury get it all happily resolved, Jasonc. With multiple witnesses (the other group riders etc.) saying what the van did your injured may have a better outcome for getting compensation from whomever (van driver or his insurer or the QLD equivalent of the TAC or whatever).

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